A storage question for FD-4 owners

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Marquard
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Jim Marquard

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Well, I have finally jumped to the digital recording world. Couldn't resist a great buy--a brand new FD-4 for $299.99, but without storage (Musician's Friend internet special). So my question is what kind of storage medium works well and at what kind of cost. I'm thinking a ZIP drive (250 mb) for now, though I like the idea of an internal hard drive. Can the internal hard drive be added on at home? Can I get the download for the update of the software necessary from Fostex. Also, has anyone found a good deal on SCSI extarnal hard drives for these things. FD-8 owners might be able to answer some of these questions. And yes, I will be e-mailing the techs at Fostex, but I figures I would get a faster response on this website.

Thanks in advance,

Jim
 
Hey Cheesehead!

I have the FD-8 w/250 Zip. I'm still learning with it, but so far I have about four unfinished songs on one zip disk. I like it alot.
 
hey man. i have an fd-4 and a 250meg zip drive. i got the drive from egghead.com. 140$
with free shipping. and you get a 20$ mail in rebate. hope this helps.
 
Can either of you guys tell me how to get stereo effect through the FD-8(I believe the FD-4 is the same).

The unit has what appears to be mono effects sends ( 1 & 2 ) and also stereo returns( L&R 1 and L&R 2 ) How in the world are you supposed to add effects at to the whole mix if you cant send a stereo signal to a procesor? What good is it to send mono? The processor cant return stereo if it gets mono? Right?

Thanks
 
Hey Jimmy,

For effects like reverb, flange, chorus, and so forth most mixers have mono sends and stero returns. This is because the track source is mono but the effect will then pan across the entire mix. Also realize that your effect is a mix of the "dry" source and the "wet" effect. What this does is allow your "dry" source to be panned into the stereo field where you want it but allow the effect to move across the stereo field to give depth perception--much like live music does in classical music with each intstument being a mono source but the music does move across the room though a violin on the left side of stage will sound as if it is from the left side of stage. That being said, certain effects, like EQ and compression for a total mix are not added "wet", they are there to give definite shape to a mix and particularly so in a final mix or master. These work either by sending your main outs directly to such devices in stereo and then the stereo outs of this device to your recording device. Some more expensive mixers will have main "inserts" so you can actually hear the result to be recorded. In a lot of cases you must here the mix as it comes from these devices. You can also send a track to such a device through channel inserts, but this is usually done before it has been recorded on portastudios (such as the FD-4 or FD-8, though it may be, I'm not sure since I don't have mine yet). Short and sweet, I guess I would have to say, don't be too concern about it, it works, really. I hope all that helped clarify your question. By the way, that is the recording engineer in you trying to figure this out. Congrats for taking the next step.

Peace, Jim
 
Thanks Jim,

Believe or not I actually understood all of that. Thats what is so great about this whole BBS thing. Sometimes you just need a second opinion or to talk to someone who knows what they are doing.
 
Can anybody tell me where you can get 250 mb ZIP cartridges cheap--if there is such a thing. At $15+ a piece that gets kind of expensive for a couple of songs each.

Peace, Jim
 
Top Jimmy,

Who knows what they're doing? LOL Oh man, don't tell me that's a requirement. I won't be able to post ever again. Speaking of knowing whats goin on, check out this article from ProRec about decibels. The part about consumer inputs (-10dB) and pro (+4 dB) ought to get a few arguments going. I'm gonna post this article on the record and mix forums. By the way, the rest of the article is pretty revealing though I had a headache for a couple of hours afterwards from all the scietific info. www.musiciansfriend.com/cgi-bin/doc?doc=prorec,pro11900.html&src=60135

Peace, Jim
 
i think you maybe stuck with $15 a piece unless you buy in bulk.
 
Alright, I finally got the FD-4. One surprise was the fact that you don't get "trim" controls with the XLR inputs. Is this a problem for anyone? Also, all the literature talks about 100mb ZIP discs not being able to use master mode with the two additional tracks. Is this true also for 250mb ZIP discs? Any great buys out there on ZIP drives or SCSI hard drives in the 2-4gb range?

Thanks, Jim
 
I have done very little vocal recording as of yet, but when I did I didnt have a problem with the inputs. The slider doubles as a trim and volume control. If you have it in input mode the slider is your gain, in track mode its your volume. Just make sure the impedence control on the track in set correctly(L M H)
 
Hi
I bought an FD-8 with a 250 zip then searched auctions and was able to find syquest 1.5 gig drives and carts as cheap as most retailers. Talk about storage more capabilities than I've figured out with plenty of room do bounce whatever you want. In response to an earlier question the zip can only be used in the normal mode.
 
I thought I heard not to buy Syquest cause they went out of business.

Maybe that was some other company. (???)
 
Hey guys! Can I install an IDE hard drive in my FD-4 by myself? The documentation mentions installation by their service department, but gives no details.
 
This is what I have been told (so far). In order to put in the hard drive you will need a card that is solder onto the circuit board. You need to get permission from fostex in order to do that. I haven't tried to get permission, yet, because I have had a heck of a time finding the hard drive that has been tested to work with the FD-4. Once I do I'm giving it a thought. Fostex will do it for for $250. That includes a 4.3 gb hard drive. Not terrible all-in-all, but it takes about 2-3 weeks for them to do it and ship it. Check out the Fostex website and e-mail them for the numbers you will need. If you find the hard drive at a good price let us know.

Peace, Jim
 
Wow, sounds like a lot of trouble. I think I'll just get an external drive and plug it in. Seems SCSI externals are not easily available used at a good price though (we're all starving musicians right?). Do I understand the Fostex information at their Website correctly? It appears that you can attach just about any 25 pin external SCSI hard drive and it MAY work, they just won't guarantee that. Is that what you get?
 
Hi Bob,
Fostex guarantees that the Iomega ZIP and EZ Flyer will work. I can't recall any specific hard drives. Other than that, yeah, they assume scsi will work. I have no idea about adapters or what not for SCSI drives with more than 25 pins (this is vital since 25 pin stuff isn't always easy to find). My manual says it is a 25 pin SCSI connector for Mac devices. If the drive isn't formatted correctly you should get a format prompt. I e-mailed Fostex about the Castlewood ORB (2.2 gb removable media) which has a seek time close to a lot of hard drives and was made for video and audio recording and doesn't cost an arm and leg--$220 for the drive (with one cartridge), $25-40 per cartridge after that. All Fostex would say is that they hear good things about the ORB so try it. Not a great amount of help.

I hope that info helps. Other than that, please pass along any info you might come across.

Peace, Jim

P.S. I'm already famous at Fostex for e-mailing so many questions. I love being a "high maintance" customer.
 
Yea an 50-25 pin adapter will work. As far as the storage the continually update it at the Fostex site. And hopefully syquest did't go out of business even though I have three new ones!!
 
I just bought an fd-4 from musiciansfriend also. I had previously purchased two syquest scsi syjet 1.5gig cartridge drives from the onsale/egghead auction site. I got the last one for $30.00 with a cartridge. Additional 1.5gig cartridges are $29.95 from justdeals.com shipping included. I also had to get a scsi II cable (db25 to hdb50m) which I bought from computergate.com for $17.95. The setup is working great so far.
 
FD-4 owners need to realize that when Fostex came out with the FD-8 they also improved the way it handled storage. They use this new "a.d.a.c" technology, which when enabled (opposed to the other Master mode) gives you 2 hours 51 minutes across 8 tracks on a 250 megabyte zip disk. I equate this to ~20min of
total record time or 5 four minute songs. Probably a lot more if I'm careful with my memory and remember to use punch in/punch out
a lot. With a 5 pack of disks for $79.00 at best buy I figure I'm set . I mean it's over 2 albums worth. Once you master down to cdr how long do you really need to archive anyway?
 
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